1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to secure message transmission in a data network.
2. Background of the Related Art
Electronic data may be transmitted between computers over a network, such as a local area network (LAN), a wireless communications network, and the Internet. Examples of electronic data include raw data used by a computer internally, and also data structured as electronic files available to a user, such as e-mail, documents, and multimedia content. A LAN is a computer network covering a small physical area, such as a home or office, or a group of buildings in close geographical proximity, such as a school or an airport. A wireless network is a computer network having wirelessly-connected nodes. The Internet is a standardized, global system of interconnected computer networks that provides communication between millions of computers. A network may be comprised of more than one individual network, and networks of more than one type. For example, multiple LANs and/or wireless networks may be connected as part of the Internet.
Much of the electronic data stored on computers is confidential or private and various methods are known for safeguarding electronic data sent by a computer over a public network. For example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol and a cryptographic protocol used for creating a secure channel over an otherwise insecure network in order to protect the contents of such communications from eavesdroppers. Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), are cryptographic protocols that provide security and data integrity for communications over networks such as the Internet. TLS and SSL encrypt the segments of network connections at the Transport Layer end-to-end.